Look at Cases

Cases is an unfamiliar strategy for many students, but it's an important way to analyze problems. Looking at cases can help break a tough problem into manageable parts, or help confirm if a solution is general enough to work in every case.

Because it's an unfamiliar strategy, we've offered a list of cases that mathematical objects often come in, and offered activities to help students explore those different cases.

Activities to Learn this Strategy

• Teacher Activity Guide [pdf]
• Student Handouts [pdf]

Facilitation Questions

• What are the objects or situations in this problem?
• What kinds of cases do they come in?

Recommended Library Problems

The Strategy Examples documents linked from these problems contain examples of what students could do with the activities. You need a Class Membership or higher to access Library problems.

Primary

Money Matters
The Van Ride

Math Fundamentals

How Old is Mia?
Change You Can't Count On

Pre-Algebra

Two Toss
Unknown Numbers

Algebra

Are You Positive?
A Slippery Slope

Geometry

Arranging Rectangles
Making the Biggest Triangle

Learn more about the different membership options.